The Truth Behind the Lie
by Senshi of Valis
Summary: Everyone knows the story of Ranma but what happens if it was all a lie forced by one Genma Saotome? This is the story of what happens when the person we know as Ranma finally breaks free and finds hisher own destiny. SO Book 1. Warning: Very dark in plac
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I guess this is where I'm supposed to say that I don't own any of the series that I may borrow characters from such as Ranma ½. All characters are property of their respective owners and I make no monetary gain from writing this story so please don't sue me.

Ranma Timeline: This story takes place a short while after Herb's appearance. There will be several large changes in the story though such as Nodoka never showing up yet and different points in time and reasons for Cologne teaching Ranma Amazon techniques. Some characters may be a little OOC but it is because of their altered past or a few tweaks here and there. If you don't like that then learn to deal because this is an AU fic and I don't want any flames. To everyone else, I truly hope you enjoy this story and if you do please leave a review with any comments, questions or suggestions..

Warnings: This story will contain some mature subject matter such as abuse and dark thoughts.

Ranma ½

Starting Over Book 1: The Truth Behind the Lie

Chapter 1 (Version 1.1 Thursday 8/17/2006)

Sayuri sighed as Yuka and Akane both ignored her as they started bashing the red haired girl sitting across the campus watching them as they talked after finishing their lunch. They said that the boy turned girl was being a pervert again leering at them and normally Sayuri would have gone along with it easily but today Sayuri looked closer at the redhead. The look on the other girl's face looked more like loneliness instead of lustfulness which when she thought about it made sense. Did Ranma really have any friends other than Hiroshi and Daisuke which seemed more interested in either trying to sneak a peak at the martial artist's female form or digging for any lurid details in Akane and the redhead's relationship.

"That's it, I had enough." Akane growled as she got up and stormed off towards Ranma.

"Go get him, Akane!" Yuka cheered.

"Wait!" Sayuri cried out as she got up and hurried after Akane who was clutching her mallet by the time she reached Ranma.

"You perverted freak, stop staring at as!" Akane demanded loudly gathering the looks of many of the students.

"I wasn't staring at anyone, especially not an uncute tomboy like you!" Ranma snapped back but Sayuri could see the hurt in the cursed girl's eyes.

"Don't lie to me you perverted freak!" Akane snapped back, nearly screaming. Ranma opened her mouth to say something else but Akane brought her mallet back and lashed out at Ranma knocking her high into the air sending her on an impromptu trip on Akane Air.

"Akane, I don't think Ranma was leering at us." Sayuri said meekly.

"Oh come on, Sayuri. That freak was practically undressing us with his eyes." Akane huffed out as she released her grip on the mallet letting the ki construct fade away into nothingness.

"Yeah, he deserved what he got." Yuka said joining the two, "Come on, lets get back inside before the bell rings."

"Might as well." Akane said following Yuka. Sayuri sighed sadly and followed her two friends in yet she couldn't shake the bad feeling that was plaguing her. Something was wrong with Ranma and Sayuri wanted to find out what and help if possible to pay the girl back for everything she had done for the students of the school from facing of against Ms. Hinako to defending them from the insane principal the school was unfortunate to have.

The remainder of the day went slowly by and Ranma had never bothered to come back to class which had ended up angering Akane even more even though it was the angry girl who had launched the redhead into orbit to begin with. Sayuri really did love Akane and Yuka, the three were like sisters, but there were times when Sayuri had to wonder about the two. It seemed that they were oblivious to everything while only seeing what the want to, especially Akane.

"Lets go get some ice cream." Yuka said as the three left school grounds in an obvious attempt to cheer up Akane and calm her down.

"I can't." Sayuri said timidly, hoping that she wouldn't regret the rash decision she just made but she felt she needed to find Ranma and make sure she was okay. _Why do I keep thinking of Ranma as a girl?_

"Why not?" Akane asked curious to why Sayuri would pass up an ice cream run.

"I have to go…My mom wants me home." Sayuri lied not sure of what else to say.

"Okay but call me later." Akane said.

"Me too." Yuka said.

"Later." Sayuri said as she hurried away from her friends as they said their goodbyes.

Not sure where to look first Sayuri decided to check out the canal first since she knew Ranma loved to hang out there for some reason. No one was there though and there were no signs of anyone being there recently but then again she was no expert at that sort of thing. She thought about the dojo but she couldn't go there because then Akane would find out that she lied about why she couldn't go with them.

She was starting to get worried that Ranma had really gotten hurt badly this time as she passed through the park and heard some familiar noises coming back in the thick grove of trees were a mostly unused hiking path wound through between them. Following the sounds she came out in a small clearing to find Ranma still a girl and doing intricate katas. Sayuri sighed in relief before noticing the wetness on Ranma's cheeks. AT first she wanted to put it off as just a light sheen of sweat but Ranma wasn't sweating. Looking closer Sayuri gasped when she realized it was from tears, Ranma was crying.

"Whose there?" Ranma demanded as she tried to wipe away the tears as she turned to face Sayuri.

"Ranma, are you okay?" Sayuri asked with worry.

"What do you care?" Ranma asked angrily.

"Because I was worried about you, Ranma. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." Sayuri said.

"Am I really supposed to believe that, no one gives a damn about me." Ranma said hoarsely while looking away.

"Akane does, Ranma, she is your fiancée after all." Sayuri said though at times she wondered if it was true. "She is worried about you and...can we just please leave her out of this for now? I care about you to and I'm worried about you. Talking helps and I promise not to tell Akane or anyone else about what we talk about."

"Just go tell her whatever you want, it's not like she will believe me anyways." Ranma sighed as she jumped into the tree and bounded from one branch to another as she sped from the park.

"Oh Ranma…" Sayuri sighed sadly. Did Ranma truly believe that? Sayuri decided that she would call Kasumi and see if the older girl could do something to help Ranma.

Ranma sighed to herself as reached the dojo a few hours later while berating herself for letting someone catch her crying. If Genma heard about this she didn't want to think about what he would do. She was still not strong enough to defeat him but she was hoping soon. If she could just get a little stronger…More skilled, then she could defend herself from that bastard and escape from him once and for all. Until then she didn't have much of a choice and just did her best not to make him too mad and just went along with everything he said.

"Welcome home, Ranma." Kasumi said greeting Ranma as soon as she entered the house and traded her shoes for slippers. Ranma wasn't completely sure, Kasumi confused her to no end and it was near impossible to read her.

"Thanks Kasumi." Ranma said refusing to meet the older girl's gaze.

"Ranma, I talked to one of your friends from school on the phone and she was really worried about you. She said something about you crying." Kasumi said gently which angered Ranma, what right did she have to stick her nose in her business.

"Stay out of it, Kasumi." Ranma said.

"I just want to help." Kasumi said as Ranma brushed past the taller girl.

"Like you give a damn, Kasumi so stop pretending. I'm so sick of it." Ranma snapped as Akane came in the door. "If you cared you wouldn't have just thrown me away like trash and force me on Akane when you knew perfectly well how she would react."

"How dare you talk to my sister that way, Ranma!" Akane screamed hitting Ranma in the stomach causing the red head to double over in pain.

"Stop it, Akane." Kasumi said but her voice was strained. "Let me talk to Ranma alone, please."

"No way am I leaving you alone with that pervert!" Akane growled.

"You don't have to worry about it, I'm going to my room." Ranma said pushing her way past the two other girls while favoring her stomach. She knew she was in trouble when Genma found out about this and it was scaring her. There wasn't any way to hide it either and all she could do was hope for the best, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"I'm going to teach that pervert a lesson he won't ever forget!" Akane snarled moving to follow Ranma up the stairs before being stopped by a firm grip on her shoulder.

"Don't Akane, can't you see there was something really bothering Ranma?" Kasumi asked gently though she couldn't hide the hurt in her voice from the way Ranma treated her. No one had ever treated her that way before and she wasn't too sure how to respond to it. She really did care about Ranma but did Ranma really believe that she hated her?

"As soon as I get up there I'll be the one bothering her." Akane said angrily.

"No, Akane, you will not. Ranma was crying today in the park and something is really bothering him. I want to talk to him alone without you interfering. Do I make myself clear?" Kasumi said gently yet sternly.

"But Kasumi, there is no telling what that pervert will do to you." Akane said.

"No buts Akane and I know for a fact that Ranma won't do anything to me." Kasumi said, "I want you to promise me that you won't interfere in my talk with Ranma."

"Sis, I'm just worried about you." Akane sighed.

"And I'm worried about Ranma, he doesn't really have that many people he can talk to and I think he really needs someone right now." Kasumi said gently to Akane, pleading her with her eyes.

"Okay, I promise." Akane sighed worriedly, "Something is really bothering the jerk enough to make him cry?"

"From what I was told." Kasumi said as she turned from Akane and slowly made her way up the steps to Ranma's room and knocked gently. After waiting a few more moments Kasumi pushed the door open calling softly, "Ranma, can we please talk."

After getting no answer Kasumi pushed the door all the way open and walked in to an empty room. There was no sign of Ranma anywhere except for the open window letting a gentle breeze ruffle the curtains. It looked like what few belongings Ranma had was still there which hopefully meant he didn't run away. Looking again Kasumi noticed for the first time just how little Ranma owned and it shocked her that she never noticed it before. The young martial artist had a few sets of clothes, a couple pictures of people he meet since coming to Nerima and that was mostly it. He didn't have anything that most other boys his age took for granted most every day nor did he have any knickknacks that she would think someone on a ten year training journey would acquire over that long a time.

Kasumi swore to herself that she would have a long talk with Genma as soon as the large man came back home. Maybe Genma could help with Ranma's problems hopefully. The man may have been an oblivious idiot but she was sure that he still cared for his son. It sounded like everything that went wrong Genma had usually meant well except for a few times like Ukyo and the Amazons.

Sighing Kasumi left the room to start dinner for the family since it was getting late and her father and Genma would both be getting home soon. Her father had a council meeting and Genma was working late in Doctor Tofu's office which was good. Tofu needed more help around his office fixing things and that at least was one thing Genma seemed to be pretty good at.

"I'm home." Genma called as Kasumi heard the door closing.

"Uncle Genma, may we please talk for a few minutes?" Kasumi asked as she came in to meet him.

"Sure dear, what did you want to talk about?" Genma asked smiling politely though it was a smile Kasumi never liked. It just didn't feel right coming from the large man and always seemed to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Let me prepare some tea for us while we talk." Kasumi said.

"That sounds wonderful, and maybe some of those cookies you made last night." Genma said, his smile changing to one that Kasumi knew all too well and one of he few smiles that Kasumi didn't mind. It was a smile shared by many who loved her cooking and was lucky enough to have some of her best treats.

"Sure Uncle, have a seat and I will be right back." Kasumi said as she went into the kitchen and started a pot of water boiling. She then got a plate out and got a few cookies to put on it but not enough to ruin Genma's appetite as if anything ever could. Getting the tea out and preparing it she took everything out to the table and served Genma a cup of tea and gave him the cookies while pouring herself a cup.

"So Kasumi dear, what did you want to talk about?" Genma asked.

"It's about Ranma." Kasumi said, "Akane and him got into a fight at school today and Akane ended up malleting him again which I'm so sorry for. I plan to have a long talk with her again later."

"I'll make sure the boy apologizes also." Genma said gruffly, anger shining in his eyes.

"It wasn't Ranma's fault, Uncle. And I believe Ranma is very upset about it because he never showed back up for school so when it let out one of their friends went looking for him and found him in the park doing kata while crying. He seemed really upset to when he got home." Kasumi said deciding to leave out how he snapped at her.

"Yeah, the jerk snapped at my sister." Akane growled coming in. "Kasumi didn't do anything to deserve that. That pervert deserves a beating for the way he treated Kasumi."

"I'll have a talk with the boy." Genma said, something much worse that anger flashing through his eyes. Was that actually hatred?

"Uncle Genma, please, Ranma didn't mean anything." Kasumi said throwing a disapproving look at Akane, "I think he is just under a lot of stress and needs his father."

"You're right, Kasumi." Genma said with a sigh then smiling that seemingly fake smile yet again. "I'll see what is bothering him and see if we can't work it out.

"Thank you, Uncle." Kasumi said with a smile getting up while hoping it would work out, "I need to get started on dinner or it will be really late."

"Of course, Kasumi." Genma said, "I'll go find the boy."

Ranma sighed as she made her way out of the window in her room and out to the dojo to do some kata in hopes of cooling down while also hoping that when Genma got home he would catch her doing it. She was hoping that he would find her doing it and be happy that she was training hard or even better yet that he wouldn't find out about what happened earlier.

She knew that it would probably have been a better idea to get some hot water first but after getting to her room and deciding what to do she felt Kasumi's presence coming toward her room and she panicked jumping out the window since she didn't want to talk with the older girl. Genma would probably be a little upset about her still being a girl but she also didn't want to risk going back into the house and confronting either Akane or Kasumi.

"Hello Ranma." A chillingly familiar voice said from behind her. Genma was home and her father didn't sound to happy.

"H-Hi pops." Ranma said grinning.

"Bitch." Genma snarled grabbing her pigtail and yanking back on it hard making her stare up in his hate filled eyes making her let out a whimper. "What in the hell have you been doing today? Insulting your fiancé, crying, snapping at Kasumi? I told you, didn't I? If you ruin this I swear that you will regret it more than anything. I will make what happened at Jusenkyo look like fun."

"I-I'm sorry poppa." Ranma whimpered.

"Bitch!" Genma snarled kneeing her in the stomach as he let go of her hair launching her across the dojo with a little added ki. "Real men don't whimper."

"I'm s-sorry." Ranma gasped clutching her stomach as Genma stalked over to her.

"Real men don't cry." Genma snarled dragging her up by the hair, shaking her. "You worthless little piece of trash, you will learn or else."

"I'm s-sorry." Ranma cried, trying to fight the pain.

"What did I say?" Genma snarled as he kneed her across the dojo again. He followed her this time kicking her again and again screaming at her though he kept it low enough so not to draw attention. The words all started to lose meaning though as the beating continued while Ranma tried to protect herself the best she could. She knew he wouldn't strike her face or anywhere else her clothes wouldn't cover so she concentrated on protecting her body with her arms which also got in the way.

"You little whore!" Genma snarled when he finished beating her, his rage spent. "How dare you block me, now everyone will see your arms. Damn it…If anyone asks you got those bruises from sparing…Or better yet, fighting that pig."

"Y-Yes p-poppa." Ranma cried curling up in a ball.

"Damn worthless…Get up and go get cleaned up before Kasumi gets done with dinner." Genma snarled. "And make sure you apologize to that airhead!"

Ranma gasped as she fought to stand up before Genma grabbed her hair and dragged her to her feet and pushed her toward the door. She stumbled a little but made it out the door and quietly made her way across the yard but she felt Akane coming towards the door, probably for her afternoon block smashing session. She didn't know if she had the strength after that to pull it off but she didn't want Akane to see her like this so she gathered as much ki as she could in her legs and jumped up to the roof and made her way to her window and slipped back inside. She gathered some clean clothes, making sure to get her only long sleeved red Chinese shirt she had and made her way to the furo.

After making sure the occupied sign was up and locked the newly installed lock she stripped off her clothes and looked at herself in the mirror letting the tears fall. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and the many large bruises almost looked like one that covered her entire abdomen. It would take several days at least for them to heal completely but the bruises on her arms weren't actually that bad surprisingly. Genma seemed to strike her body more than her arms somehow so they should be healed by the following evening if not by morning.

Sighing she washed off as good as she could, being extra careful with her injuries before getting into the furo to soak in its warm comforting waters and changing back to her male form. The next think he knew someone was knocking on the door angrily waking him from the deep sleep that had claimed him.

"I'm coming." Ranma called out tiredly.

"Good, because dinner is ready you pervert!" Akane called stomping off away from the door.

Ranma sighed and got out of the furo to dry and get dressed deciding to try and catch Kasumi alone in the kitchen before getting everything out to the table.

Kasumi finished putting everything in serving bowls as Ranma slowly walked into the kitchen but he was waking a little funny. He seemed to be favoring his side and stomach as he looked at her with a mixture of emotions that she couldn't make out but she didn't think any of them was good.

"Are you okay, Ranma?" Kasumi asked with concern.

"I'm fine." Ranma said, his voice almost devoid of emotion. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier, I just had a bad day."

"Ranma, what's wrong?" Kasumi asked, starting toward him but he backed away from her.

"I said I'm sorry, okay, so can I please go now?" Ranma asked. Kasumi nodded sadly as he turned away from her and went back out to the dinning room and took his seat next to his father.

"How was your day, Ranma?" Soun asked. Ranma saw Genma's glare from the corner of his eye and frowned mentally.

"It was okay, I guess." Ranma said.

"Excellent, my boy." Soun said. Kasumi sighed and left the doorway shaking her head, there was something definitely wrong with Ranma. She decided to try and figure it out later though as she returned to the kitchen to start bringing out their dinner. Another sign that Ranma was upset badly about something, he often helped her with it and other things but it seemed like he didn't even want to be near her which bothered her greatly. She cared a lot for Ranma and the way he was treating her was very upsetting.

Dinner was a quiet affair with not even Akane and Ranma arguing that much and as soon as they finished Ranma decided to go to bed early but just before excusing himself Nabiki spilled a glass of water on him changing him back into a girl. With a heavy sigh Ranma made her way to her bedroom without even bothering to change back. Striping her clothes down to her boxers and tank top she crawled into her futon and tried to get some sleep and actually found herself falling into a restless sleep all too quickly until being woken up by Genma falling into his futon beside her which made her want to rethink changing back but decided that at the moment she no longer cared.

"Why are you still a girl?" Genma growled.

"I didn't feel like changing back." Ranma sighed not bothering to turn over to look at her so called father.

"Stupid…I'm warning you Ranma, keep this up and I will keep good my promise. Saioka is willing to pay me a lot of money for you and if you mess this up I will take it." Genma snarled before turning over to go to sleep himself.

Laying there seething in anger at the threat Ranma wanted to cry but didn't dare to after the beating she had earlier. She wanted so much to just beat the hell out of him and strike out one her own but she knew that it was impossible to truly beat her father at her current level. She was getting close, the morning spars were getting much closer now even if Genma still let her win she could tell that it wasn't by much. Just a little more then she would make sure that she would never have to see that horrid place again or that monster woman Saioka.

Turning her thoughts to today and thinking about the hurt look on Kasumi's face struck a chord in Ranma's own heart and made her feel guilty now that her anger at the eldest Tendo had died down. Kasumi was the only person here that ever treated Ranma with any kindness not including when she first got there but could Ranma really blame her for that. To be suddenly told that you might have to marry some one because of an arrangement made by your father was difficult, especially when you were all ready in love with someone else which was something all too familiar to Ranma. The only problem was that both Ranma and Kasumi's love interest looked very bleak at present. Ranma's wanted to kill her while Kasumi's turned into a blathering idiot when ever she was around..

Did Kasumi truly deserve the anger that Ranma showed her earlier that day? Kasumi may have stuck her nose in something she didn't understand but the older girl meant well and that was something Ranma had not encountered much since about ten years earlier when she trained under the American street fighter named Ken Masters. The man was a genius in the martial arts and had showed Ranma some pretty powerful techniques even if the old man didn't know about that one. It was during one of the only times that she went to school on the training journey and she met the man who was staying at a local dojo. Her father said that Ken was a fake, a fraud and disgrace to the martial arts since he was a foreigner. She found out different though and he even taught her some moves in secret.

Those were two of the only people who ever showed her that much kindness except for one other. The old woman who had helped her come out of the neko ken the first time. The old woman was enraged at Genma and refused to let him take her back. That was the day she learned just how ruthless Genma truly was. A lump tried to form in her throat as her eyes misted as she thought about the last moments of the old woman's life as she protected a young Ranma.

"Damn it." Ranma muttered to herself as she quietly got out of bed and put back on the now dry clothes she had on earlier. At first she was going to just go and knock on her door but that might wake up Akane and Ranma didn't want that to happen. Instead she went to her window, flinching a little at the pain in her side were the worst of the bruises were. She carefully climbed out of the window and crawled around the roof until she came to Kasumi's open window. Kasumi was sitting on the edge of her bed in her nightgown staring at what Ranma knew was her mother.

"Mom…I'm so worried about Ranma." Kasumi said, "What should I do? I know I didn't help much today but I really tried. He is like a little brother to me and I love him so much. Please…What should I do?"

"Kasumi." Ranma said softly causing said girl to jump. When she turned to face Ranma the redhead could easily see the tears falling from the elder girl's eyes. Wiping them away Kasumi smiled softly at Ranma while wiping away the tears.

"Ranma, are you okay?" Kasumi asked motioning for Ranma to come in. The redhead complied while climbing in the window and sitting next to Kasumi where she indicated.

"Shouldn't you put a robe on?" Ranma asked a little nervously. All she needed was Akane coming in here and seeing them like this. Kasumi's nightgown while modest was at the same time very revealing, hugging her ample curves which was the only Tendo girl who truly rivaled Ranma in that department.

"Relax Ranma, we are both girls at the moment." Kasumi said softly.

"Kasumi…About today, I really am sorry. I was so mad and all you did was try to help." Ranma said hanging her head in shame.

"You don't have to be sorry, Ranma." Kasumi said hugging Ranma causing the redhead to flinch a little in pain.

"Are you okay, Ranma?" Kasumi asked pulling away trying to pull the red head's shirt up.

"I'm okay, Kasumi. Honest. Just another stupid fight earlier today and I'm just a little sore from it." Ranma said pulling her shirt back down before Kasumi could expose any of her real injuries from Genma. "Kasumi…I want you to promise me something, okay?"

"If it doesn't hurt anyone then of course I will Ranma." Kasumi said.

"Don't talk to my dad about anything about me, please. If he thinks I'm not being manly enough then he ups my training time and I don't want that to interfere with my part time waitressing at the Neko Hanten." Ranma said.

"You waitress, Ranma?" Kasumi asked in shock.

"A little, a day or two a week to make a little bit of money while training with the old ghoul." Ranma said. "Its usually on days Shampoo has off so she is out looking for me which leaves me in peace since duckboy is usually off chasing her then. Please don't tell anyone about that either."

"Okay Ranma, I promise." Kasumi said. "At least let me look at your wounds, Ranma. Let me see if I can do anything."

"Its okay, Kasumi, the Doc all ready checked them out and bandaged me up." Ranma said smiling at Kasumi as she got up and moved toward the window.

"If you are sure, Ranma." Kasumi said a little worry in her voice.

"I'm sure." Ranma said, "Thank you Kasumi, for everything."

"Your welcome, Ranma. That is what family is for." Kasumi said.

"Good night then sis, love you." Ranma said before jumping out the window wishing that it was true about families. Her own family was nothing like that and was in fact the entire opposite. The only thing the Tendo family and hers had in common was that neither had a mother.

AN: This is the first book of my Starting Over series which there will be three books in all. The second book will have some minor changes and one major change in it when I get to it as all three will be posted as one with three arcs when it is finished. Also, I may go back and make some small changes and make some of the chapters longer by expanding on certain parts. So please leave reviews telling what you like or don't like, any suggestions to make this better or even any corrections. I will answer all reviews coming in as well as PMs.

I'm feeling much better now and intend to try and stay that way. I'm going to try and eliminate any thing that causes me stress though, like trying to write fifteen chapters a week. I will try my hardest to write at least two chapters a week though for my stories and until I finish them up I won't be starting any more for the time being.

Until Next Time,

Ja Ne

Revisions

Version 1.0 Tuesday 8/15/2006

-Posted first draft.

Version 1.1 Thursday 8/17/2006

-Fixed the conversation between Ranma and Sayuri


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma ½

Starting Over Book 1: The Truth Behind the Lie

Chapter 2 (Version 1.0 Thursday 8/17/2006)

The next morning Ranma woke up even earlier than usual without the help of being thrown out the window and decided to go ahead and get dressed and go downstairs in hopes of avoiding the morning spar. As she predicted the bruises on her arms was mostly gone now leaving only a few marks and the bruises on her body had gone away a little but they were mostly still there as well as the soreness.

As she walked downstairs in her normal garb of red Chinese shirt and silk black pants she heard Kasumi working in the kitchen and decided to go there first. As she walked in she saw Kasumi getting everything they needed for breakfast together and decided to help when she saw Kasumi slip and start to fall with a large knife in hand. Ranma acted quickly and grabbed Kasumi before hitting the floor and before hurting herself on the knife luckily neither of them getting cut by it.

"Thank you Ranma, what are you doing up so early?" Kasumi asked, relief in her voice from being saved by what could have easily become a very bad situation.

"Momentai." Ranma said with a soft smile helping the older girl back get her balance back then cursed at herself for saying that.

"Momentai…Ranma, you watch digimon?" Kasumi asked in shock.

"Digi what?" Ranma asked blushing a little, hoping that she could hide that fact. Maybe it really was too early in the morning. She couldn't let something like that slip because it wasn't manly to watch stupid cartoons according to her father.

"Isn't that where you got that from?" Kasumi asked while looking Ranma straight in the eyes.

"No…I…Hiroshi says it all of the time, he said it means no worries or something like that." Ranma said nervously.

"Of course." Kasumi said with a small smile as if she believed otherwise.

"Can I help you?" Ranma asked trying to change the subject.

"I have everything in here under control already, Ranma but thank you." Kasumi said.

"Okay." Ranma said, "If you need anything I'll be in the other room."

Ranma walked out of the kitchen and into the dinning room while looking around. She had seen Kasumi cleaning enough in here that she knew basically everything that the older girl usually did. For the next half an hour Ranma used her speed she gained from the techniques that Cologne taught her and made short work of what usually took Kasumi all morning to do by cleaning the entire living room while humming the theme from Magic Knight Rayearth to herself.

"You didn't have to do all of this." Kasumi said in surprise from behind Ranma as she was putting the stuff back into the cleaning closet startling Ranma. She was hoping that the elder girl didn't hear what she was humming or recognize it. That was twice so far that morning that she slipped up badly.

"It was no problem, Kasumi. I just wanted to help you out a little." Ranma said scratching the back of her neck nervously.

"It means a lot to me though, Ranma." Kasumi said with a bright smile, "You saved me a lot of work today but don't worry, I won't tell your dad."

"Thanks Kasumi." Ranma said, relieved that Genma wouldn't learn anything about it.

"Why don't you go ahead and go get your bath before everyone else gets up." Kasumi said, looking curiously at Ranma.

"Sure, I guess." Ranma said as she turned and left to get a change of clothes and to take a quick bath.

Breakfast was a little better than dinner had been with barely any tension and Akane actually being in a good mood for some reason. Akane was someone that Ranma didn't think that he would ever understand, the girl was a raging inferno one moment and as calm as can be the next. He knew that she had some major problems but he often wished that she would find some better way of taking out her frustrations and insecurities than beating on him. He got enough beatings from his father he didn't need the tomboy adding more on top.

"I'm going to school by myself this morning, Ranma." Akane announced as they finished eating leaving Ranma to blink in surprise. Why would she want to walk by herself for anyways?

"Why don't you walk with your fiancé?" Soun asked.

"Because daddy, I'm stopping off at Yuka's house to help her with some stuff before going to school. We are planning on going shopping in Shinjuku tonight after school since tomorrow there isn't any school." Akane explained, "This is going top be just us girls daddy so don't even start with begging me to take Ranma along. I had this planned for weeks now and you knew it so don't try to ruin it."

Sound didn't even try to persuade his daughter as he swallowed heavily at the calm yet threatening way his youngest daughter said the last few words. Ranma was a little put off about it though since he remembered Akane talking about it before and Yuka suggesting to bring Ranma along but Akane rejected the idea. How could the fathers ever expect them to get married, they wasn't even friends since Akane refused to even really give Ranma a fair chance which while did hurt a little Ranma was fine with. He may not of wanted to marry her but he would have liked to be friends like Akane suggested until finding out about the curse and betraying him by rescinding her offer.

"That's fine with me, I have plans myself." Ranma said, not letting any of his inner turmoil show. If Akane didn't want him around then fine, he had better things he could do. He had been asked to waitress at the Neko Hanten if he had free time after school anyways so he decided that he just had time open up for training.

"Yes my boy, an extended training regimen sounds great." Genma said making Ranma pale a little hoping that he could get out of it.

"Your right pops, Cologne offered to teach me some new move tonight when she gets rid of Shampoo for the evening." Ranma said. He knew Genma though women were weak and worthless but the Amazons were a different story. If there was anyone Genma truly feared it was the Amazon elder who was the only one who truly stood a chance against Happosai.

"You are just going to hang out with that bimbo." Akane raged.

"Nope, for your information the old ghoul is sending both Mousse and Shampoo to pick something up from some old antique store in Juuban. Neither of them have earned the right of learning the new technique." Ranma said pushing his dishes away from him.

"Wahhhhh…Ranma is cheating on his fiancé with a foreign slut!" Soun cried.

"Idiot." Ranma grumbled.

"No, Soun, think about it. If Ranma manages to steal…err…learn the Amazon's tricks then he can incorporate them into the school and make it even stronger when its joined." Genma said, "The two really aren't going to be there tonight since I heard Happosai going on about following them to Juuban tonight to check into those magical girls while there."

"This is perfect then, Saotome. Your son can learn these techniques then come back and marry my baby." Soun said.

"Give it a rest!" Akane snapped getting up from the table and leaving as Nabiki did. Ranma just sighed and noticed just how big a mess the table was and decided to grab most of the plates and carry them into the kitchen.

"Boy, what are you doing?" Genma demanded scaring Ranma a little.

"Since I'm going to school by myself I can make it in half the time I do when I have to walk with that tomboy so I'm helping Kasumi a little." Ranma said, "Honestly, don't you ever get tired of freeloading?"

"We will talk about this later." Genma said sending chills down Ranma's back from the tone of his father's voice. This couldn't be very good. Ranma thought as he finished dumping the dishes in the sink.

"Ranma." Kasumi said quietly as she squeezed his shoulder. "Thank you but I can get this, I don't want you to get in any more trouble."

"Thanks Kasumi, I'm sorry about the old fool." Ranma sighed sadly.

"Don't be, Ranma." Kasumi said kissing his cheek, "Have fun tonight and don't worry about anything."

"Thanks." Ranma said smiling a little.

"Now go, off to school, I can finish this." Kasumi said shooing the young martial artist out of the kitchen.

After finishing the dishes and checking in on her father and Genma, who had the day off, she found them playing shogi again. She never understood them playing it that much since all they did was cheat each other every chance they got but maybe that was what they enjoyed about it.

Ranma had truly done a lot of work in such a short amount of time that morning freeing up a lot of time for Kasumi which she wasn't too sure what to do with. She knew that she planned on visiting Doctor Tofu at lunch but her whole morning was free now. She debated trying to watch some television but she knew that there usually wasn't anything very good on this time of the morning. Thinking about the attic she thought maybe she should go up there and clean a little since it was a little before the Saotome's arrived when she last cleaned up there or even went up there. It held a lot of memories of her mother which was good and bad. She loved the memories but they held so much pain yet as they always made Kasumi miss the woman even more.

Slowly making her way to the attic she found the light switch and turned it on and was shocked at how clean the attic was. Everything was moved around now which she knew neither Nabiki or Akane did but everything was organized. Looking over to the farthest corner she noticed how the boxes were stacked and realized that there shouldn't be so many boxes up here. Moving to the boxes Kasumi realized that they were just stacked out from the wall making a wall themselves but why? Moving around the boxes she found a small space which she squeezed through and found herself in a small space where there was an old television and DVD player hooked up to it. Stacked on top of it was a few anime DVDs including a volume of Magic Knight Rayearth, Digimon Tamers and Tokyo Mew Mew respectively. Beside the Television was a couple worn manga of Magic Knight Rayearth though they had seen much better days with one of them missing most of the cover and the others being badly damaged. In front of the television was a pillow and blanket and a few papers and teen girl magazines which highlighted stars. One of them had the image of a very attractive blonde haired American on the cover with the name Ken Masters.

"Is this Ranma's?" Kasumi asked herself since the young man was the only one she knew of who would have done this. Thinking back to the morning she realized that it had to be, Ranma was humming the intro to Magic Knight Rayearth while cleaning. This would most definitely be considered unmanly by Genma so Kasumi decided not to even mention it but she was glad that at least Ranma did have a few things though the magazines did surprise her a little.

She realized that Magic Knight Rayearth must have been one of Ranma's favorites since that seemed to be what there was the most of between the few mangas and the DVD. Deciding to do a little shopping instead Kasumi went to get changed and told her father that she was going out for a bit.

"I'm sorry." Ranma heard Sayuri said as the spent their free period in the class room around Akane's desk while Ranma sat in hers next to them ignoring Ukyo and everyone else. "I can't go tonight, my mom has a booth set up at the convention tonight and I told her I would be there. If you want you guys can come."

"No way." Akane said, "That stupid gaijin is going to be there. Kan Masters a grand master in martial arts my ass. What does a lazy American know of martial arts."

"Did you say Ken Masters?" Ranma asked excitedly as she sat up and looked over at the three girls.

"Don't tell me that you believe that fraud." Akane snorted.

"It doesn't matter what country you are born in Akane, a true martial artist can come from anywhere." Ranma said, a little angry at the blue haired girl for putting down one of the greatest martial artists, in Ranma's own opinion anyways.

"As if, I could beat the fake any day of the week." Akane said.

"No you couldn't Akane." Ranma said seriously, "Ken Masters is a ki adept for one thing, he mastered it a long time ago and makes anything Ryouga and me do look like a firecracker."

"Dream on, you pervert." Akane said, "I'm a real martial artist, the best in Nerima."

"Please, you can't even beat me how can you even think you stand a chance against Ken." Ranma said.

For a few moments Akane seethed, glaring daggers at Ranma until a nasty smile crept into her lips.

"I do admit he is very handsome so I can understand why you would want to protect him so much. You like him you freak, I knew you were a pervert."

"Grow up, Akane!" Ranma snapped, her cheeks glowing a little as she turned away from the three and buried her face in her folded arms on the desk just as the bell rang.

Ranma was actually relieved when the teacher thought she was sleeping and sent her into the hallo to hold buckets since it meant that she didn't have to deal with Akane or the angry girl's glares and rude, stinging insults. She was beginning to think that Akane truly believed all of that deep down and truly hated her. She always thought that a part of Akane had cared for Ranma just a little but things just kept getting worse and worse between the two.

It just seemed that it was never going to end which started to depress Ranma all the more, her whole life seemed so meaningless at times. Why bother with it then, why not just end it all, all the pain and all the suffering.

"Never." Ranma snarled to herself clutching the buckets tighter. She refused to give up, she didn't come this far, worked this long for freedom just to give up now. She was getting stronger and soon she would be the one on top and all those who hurt her would never be able to again. She would prove to everyone that she was worth something, more than just a tool for her father's schemes to swindle people and feed his fat stomach.

Ranma sighed, trying to think of something else before she let her anger and depression get the better of her. She wandered how she could get to the convention to see Ken, wandering if he would even remember her. She remembered how he acted like a jerk sometimes but he always tried to help those in need and had such a kind heart, trying to do the right thing. He was what gave Ranma her sense of honor, or at least a part of it. She tried so hard to become like him and she wanted so much to at least see him again but how? An anime convention was surely going to be considered to girlie to attend which meant if Genma found out he would be outraged. Also, there was the Neko Hanten to think about as she didn't want to ruin the little bit of time she had with the old Amazon who Ranma saw as a grandmother at times, especially when she wasn't helping Shampoo try and get her to go back to China with them.

"Ranma, snap out of it!" Sayuri said loudly, shaking the redhead's shoulder.

"Wh-What?" Ranma asked startled.

"You was in la la land, Saotome. I couldn't get your attention, the bell rang and it is time to go home. Akane already left with Yuka." Sayuri said.

"Oh…Thanks Sayuri." Ranma said smiling a little then remembered the look on her face the day before, the sadness and worry etched on it resembling Kasumi's so much last night. "Sayuri…About yesterday…Thank you, I'm sorry I overreacted the way I did."

"Its okay, Ranma, I'm just glad that you are okay." Sayuri said smiling a little more, "You are okay, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I better get to the Neko Hanten if I want to make it in time." Ranma said.

"Ranma…Can I please walk with you?" Sayuri asked nervously.

"I guess so." Ranma said, curious to why Sayuri wanted to since the girl was supposedly supposed to be heading to the convention.

"Great, grab your things and meet me out front." Sayuri said hurrying off. Ranma sighed and grabbed her things and hurried out front with a feeling of impending doom. She prayed that it was nothing but knowing her life a giant purple dinosaur could walk by any moment terrorizing the masses with its frightening, torturous, nasty, evil songs. The thought made her shiver even more.

Ranma jumped a little when someone put their hand on her shoulder causing Ranma to whirl around to find a giggling Sayuri.

"Sorry about that, Ranma." Sayuri giggled, "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Its no big, you ready?" Ranma said.

"Yep." Sayuri said showing her satchel with school supplies stuffed in it and homework assignments for the weekend. The two started walking at a slow pace without saying anything for a few moments until Sayuri nervously asked, "So, is Ken like your hero or something?"

"Or something." Ranma sighed, "Look, I don't need you to make fun of me over it."

"Relax, Ranma, I think its cool that you have someone that you look up to." Sayuri said, "And besides, he is a hunk."

"He is." Ranma whispered to herself but Sayuri heard.

"So when you change genders your perspective changes?" Sayuri asked curiously.

"N-No." Ranma stammered shaking her head, "Well…A little I guess but I hate it…I hate the way it makes me feel. Its so wrong and disgusting."

"Its only natural, Ranma." Sayuri said, "There is nothing to be ashamed about."

"You wouldn't say that if you knew the truth." Ranma said sadly.

"How about you tell me the truth." Sayuri said.

"You wouldn't understand, Sayuri." Ranma sighed, "Please, lets just drop that."

"Okay, I'm sorry Ranma." Sayuri said, "Have you ever met Ken before?"

"Yeah, about ten years ago. He taught me a lot of things though my dad didn't know about it. My dad hates him, actually he hates all Americans." Ranma said.

"No offense to you Ranma but your dad is a total jerk." Sayuri said.

"That is something else we both agree with." Ranma said.

"Ranma, will you come with me to the convention?" Sayuri asked.

"I would love to Sayuri but you don't know what my dad would do if he found out." Ranma said.

"What if I guaranteed that he wouldn't find out?" Sayuri asked.

"I would but…I have…Well…" Ranma said, trying to stall as she tried to make up an excuse.

"Everyone will be going to the convention Ranma, as slow as its going to be tonight I doubt Cologne will really need help waitressing." Sayuri said as they entered the Neko Hanten to find no one there except Cologne who was perched up on the counter behind the register.

"What…How did you know?" Ranma asked.

"Son in law, how oblivious can you be?" Cologne cackled when they got to the register, rapping Ranma on her head with her staff.

"Ouch, what did you do that for you dried up old mummy?" Ranma demanded rubbing the spot on her head where the staff hit.

"Ranma, your young friend comes in here a lot. Don't tell me that you never noticed her." Cologne laughed merrily.

"I didn't think she would recognize me with that stupid wig you make me wear." Ranma grumbled.

"Not everyone is as oblivious as Ryouga is dear." Cologne said after she regained control of herself. She opened the register and pulled out several large bills handing them to Ranma.

"What's this for?" Ranma asked.

"To enjoy yourself with, take your young friend out here and treat her to a nice meal when you get done at this convention of yours." Cologne said, "I'm closing up for the night, like your friend said everyone is at the convention."

"I can't take all of this." Ranma said trying to give back the money.

"Yes you can and will and you will spend it. Do I make myself clear?" Cologne asked, her eyes saying that there would be no argument.

"Thanks granny." Ranma said smiling.

"That's better." Cologne said.

"Aren't you afraid of me cheating on Shampoo?" Ranma asked nervously.

"Ranma." Cologne said moving to rap Ranma over the head but stopped as she smiled sadly. "Child, we both know that there will never be anything between you two. For one thing neither of you swing that way."

"What do…You know, don't you?" Ranma asked turning white.

"Know what?" Sayuri asked in confusion.

"You will learn when the time is right." Cologne said, "Me, I'm over three hundred years old with three hundred years experience. It wasn't too hard to see what is going on, why do you think I've been helping you so much training you in techniques that should be forbidden to outsiders."

"Actually, from what I heard about you that is a good question." Sayuri asked, "How could you teach Ranma all of the techniques?"

"This is not to become common knowledge, especially with my Shampoo since she isn't ready to know yet." Cologne said, "Ranma…In the tribes eyes you are my adopted daughter."

"I get it." Sayuri said clapping her hands together. "With Ranma's curse he can become a girl which you adopted as your daughter."

"Something like that dear." Cologne said smiling sadly at Ranma, "You two better get going if you don't want to stand in line all night."

"Your right but we won't have to." Sayuri said, "My mom has a booth there."

"Have fun you two." Cologne said as the two left the restaurant.

"Thanks granny." Ranma called back over her shoulder as the doors closed.

"Come on Ranma, lets get to my house." Sayuri said grabbing Ranma's hand dragging the red head down the street.

"I thought we was going to the convention." Ranma said as she hurried along so she wouldn't trip as the excited girl led Ranma down the street at speeds the redhead didn't think the girl could pull off.

"Of course, we need disguises." Sayuri laughed putting fear into Ranma's heart.

"Wow." Ranma whistled appreciatively as the entered a large house, easily twice the size of the Tendos. It even rivaled that of Kuno's mansion but it didn't seem to have the insane air about it or the deadly traps.

"Come on, my room is this way." Sayuri said leading Ranma down a hall with numerous paintings which Ranma guessed must have been Sayuri's family. One painting she passed pulled at a memory for a moment, making her feel like she knew the redhaired woman in a kimono in the painting but she shook that off seeing at how impossible it was.

Sayuris room was twice as big as Akane's with a large entertainment center, a canopy bed with sheer pink curtains matching the walls and strange clothes strewn all over the place.

"I have the perfect costume for you if you don't mind going as a girl." Sayuri said digging through a pile of dresses until she pulled out something familiar to Ranma. It was genius, even if anyone saw Ranma there they would never believe it was her. The dress was an exact replica of Zoe's waitress uniform from Tokyo Mew Mew with cat ears and tail. Who would ever believe that Ranma would go as a cat girl? "The bathroom is over there, I don't have a bra big enough for you but you kind of look like my mom's size with a little adjusting. Go ahead and go in there and take your clothes off and I'll bring back the underwear."

"Thanks." Ranma said taking the costume into the bathroom and slowly peeled her clothes off not bothering to complain about it being unmanly to wear that stuff. Genma wasn't going to find out and hopefully with a little makeup no one would truly recognize her. She finished taking off the last of the clothes when the bathroom door opened and Sayuri let out a cry of shock and anger.

"Who did this to you?" Sayuri demanded angrily as Ranma tried to hide herself as tears filed her eyes.

"Don't look." Ranma pleaded weakly as Sayuri moved forward to examine the mass of bruises.

"Who did this to you?" Sayuri repeated, more calmly and gently.

"You can't tell anyone, Sayuri." Ranma pleaded, "It will get worse if you do."

"Ranma, this isn't right and don't even try to tell me that this was from a fight or spar. I've seen stuff like this before at the hospital." Sayuri said.

"He doesn't do it much anymore…He just found out that I was…" Ranma said shutting up.

"Found out what?" Sayuri demanded.

"That I was…crying." Ranma whispered.

"Oh god…This is my fault." Sayuri said covering her mouth and shaking her head.

"No it wasn't, Sayuri." Ranma said.

"I'm calling the police." Sayuri said turning to leave before Ranma grabbed her hand.

"No…He'll kill them, Sayuri. He did it before." Ranma said, pleading with Sayuri to not do anything.

"It was your dad, wasn't it?" Sayuri asked.

"Sayuri, please listen to me." Ranma begged, "This was the only time since we came here that he did this, he can't or the Tendo's might find out. I can handle this."

"Ranma…You need help." Sayuri said.

"I am the only one that can help, Sayuri. I'm almost strong enough Sayuri, a little more training and I can defend myself and make sure that he doesn't hurt anyone else." Ranma said. "Please…If you tell anyone I'm afraid he might hurt them and…I'm afraid he'll hurt you."

"I'm so sorry." Sayuri said embracing the naked girl.

"Its okay, Sayuri." Ranma said hugging the girl back. "Please Sayuri, please promise me that you won't get involved in this. Just give me a little time."

"Ranma…I'm…I don't know what to do." Sayuri sniffed.

"Just trust me, please." Ranma said, "Lets forget about this for now and just go have some fun tonight."

"Okay." Sayuri sniffed pulling away.

"Thank you." Ranma said bending down to pick up the bra and panties off of the floor and started to put them on.

"I'll help you get ready then I'll change." Sayuri said helping Ranma get into the costume and ushered her out into the bedroom to wait as Sayuri retrieved what must have been her costume and went back into the bathroom. Ranma was a little scared about Sayuri finding out about what happened and even more so over how easily the girl dropped the matter. Ranma was silently praying to herself that Sayuri wouldn't get hurt when the door opened back up and out stepped Sayuri dressed just like Aeris from final fantasy seven.

"Wow, you look great." Ranma said smiling.

"Why thank you kind lady." Sayuri said bowing to Ranma a little, giggling a bit though it was easy to see the worry in the girl's eyes.

"Lets get going before it gets any later." Ranma suggested smiling softy at Sayuri.

"Come on." Sayuri said as the two left and made good time to the convention center. The two talked a bit on the way, kidding around which made Ranma feel like she was floating on air as one of her fondest wishes felt like it was coming true. It felt like Ranma truly had a friend, one who didn't have an ulterior motive other than just caring and wanting to have a little fun.

"Where do you think you two are going?" A security guard asked as Sayuri opened the side door to the building.

"Relax Jin, its me." Sayuri said.

"Sorry Sayuri, go ahead." The guard said as Sayuri dragged Ranma through the door and into the building. It was a virtual crowd as Sayuri led Ranma through it toward a booth where several very good looking girls modeled various outfits ranging from modest to skimpy each one being from video game, anime or manga. One girl looked to be about Ranma's age though in a modified school fuku with fingerless gloves and a white headband on. The way she carried herself screamed fighter to Ranma.

"Hi honey." Sayuri's mom said hugging Sayuri. "This is Sakura, a friend of Ken and Ryu's."

"Hi." Sakura said bowing politely to Sayuri and Ranma.

"I'm Sayuri and this is Ranma." Sayuri said indicating each of them in turn.

"Yo, Sakura, whose the babe?" A very familiar blonde haired man asked in perfect Japanese as he joined Sakura along with a Japanese man in a white gi. They were Ken and Ryu and Ranma froze as she looked Ken in the eyes seeing confusion for a few moments in the man's eyes then recognition.

"Ranko…Oh my god it is you." Ken said happily.

"Stop hitting on her." Sakura said elbowing the blonde haired man in the stomach, "I swear you pervert she is the same age as me."

"I'm not hitting on her, this is Ranko Saotome, the prodigy I told you guys about." Ken said happily, "It's been a long time red, I was wrong though when I told you that you would grow up to be pretty. You are a goddess."

"Th-Thanks." Ranma said blushing a little as Sayuri gawked at the two.

"So you practice martial arts?" Sakura asked. "We are going to have a few exhibition matches, want to spar with me in one. Ken's apprentice against Ryu's, see who is better?"

"Sorry, Ranma doesn't fight girls." Sayuri said though it seemed like she was ignored.

"Sure." Ranma said, cracking her knuckles.

"Lets go then." Sakura said leading Ranma from the group and leaving the two meen and Sayuri gawking momentarily before following trying to talk them out of it.

Ranma followed Sakura to the exhibition ring which was apparently set up for a few matches between martial artists. Ranma went to one end of it while Sakura took the other.

"Are they going to spar?" A bald man in black suit asked when Ken came over to take a seat near the announcers table.

"Yeah, my apprentice Ranko Saotome against Ryu's apprentice Sakura Ozaki." Ken said smiling proudly.

"Okay then." The announcer said turning on his mike as a few people noticed there was going to be a match they started to gather around the ring. "We have a special treat tonight folks, the apprentice students of two legendary street fighters is going to give us an exhibition match. Ryo's apprentice Sakura Ozaki and Ken's apprentice Ranko Saotome. Begin!"

Ranma smiled as she took her favorite stance, the hit me I'm open stance as she stood there acting like she wasn't ready. Sakura was faster than Ranko gave her credit for and started off with a spinning kick almost catching Ranma who narrowly dodged at the last second unleashing a high kick aimed for the back of Sakura's head as soon as she landed but the fuku clad girl easily dodged it as well as she jumped back.

The two fighters locked eyes and smiled at each other, they realized that each was much better that the other thought and this fight was going to be a lot harder than first thought. Ken was watching though and Ranma refused to let the man who showed her that their was good people out there willing to fight for what was right, to fight for your dreams and your beliefs never letting anyone keep you down.

"I'm sorry Sakura, but I won't be beaten." Ranma said taking a more serious stance.

"Neither will I red, I'm going to be the best and prove that I'm worthy to be Ryu's heir." Sakura said tightening up her stance. Ranma realized that this wasn't about a sparring match anymore, it was about proving who had the better teacher. The only problem with that was it seemed like Sakura had a fundamental knowledge of street fighting and a deeper knowledge of Ryu's art which for the most part was the same style as Ken's own which Ranma knew. Ranma had the advantage though of training under the basics of the Saotome style of the arty, a few insane training methods, the masters Ranma met on the road that was willing to seriously train her without Genma's knowledge and the Amazon's teachings. In short Ranma was going to kick Sakura's ass.

Sakura cupped her hands together as a ball of light formed between them before thrusting them toward Ranma. It was pure ki, not emotional like Ranma's Moko Takabisha which meant it was a lot stronger but if Ranma dodged it it might hit an innocent bystander. Crossing her arms before and directing as much ki into them as she could she attempted to block the brunt of the attack. It knocked her back driving her into the ground skidding on her back. Adjusting her body weight she rolled back on her feet weakly and stared at an equally drained Sakura who was looking on in shock.

"Time to end this." Ranma said jumping into the air and coming down with a flying kick which Sakura barely dodged then executing a roundhouse kick that Sakura blocked. The two started to trade punches and kicks, both blocking the other as they refused to give ground.

"Give…up." Sakura gasped between punches.

"Never." Ranma said drawing on the last of her resources to launch an amaguriken at the shocked girl knocking her out as too many punches slipped a past her defenses. She had won, she had beaten Sakura. She looked over at Ken as he hurried over with Ryu, a proud look in his eyes. The man who Ranma loved deeply, the man who she thought of more as a father figure than the bastard who raised her and looked up to so much was proud of her. With a smile she slipped into unconsciousness.

Ranma groaned as she sat up on the cot she was laying on in a little room that resembled a nurses station at the school. Looking around she saw Sakura coming around next to her on another cot with relieved looks on Ken, Ryu and Sayuri's faces.

"You did great." Ken said ruffling Ranma's hair.

"You really did." Sayuri beamed, "I couldn't believe how close it was though."

"I made a mistake by underestimating her." Ranma said.

"You both made mistakes." Ryu said, "Sakura, it was too dangerous to use an attack like that in such a closed space with so many other people around."

"I know." Sakura said, "I'm sorry. Congratulations Ranko, I'll train and come back though and next time I'll be the winner."

"That's the spirit." Ryu said, "I'm very proud of you Sakura."

"Thanks." Sakura said smiling up at Ryu.

"Lets all go out to a karaoke bar before we have to leave in the morning." Ken said, "My treat."

"That would be great." Ranma beamed.

"It would be fun." Sayuri said.

"Sorry I made you miss the convention, Sayuri." Ranma said realizing how late it was getting.

"Ranma, the convention will be all weekend and I expect you to come back here with me tomorrow." Sayuri said tapping her foot.

"Why do you keep calling her Ranma anyway?" Ken asked.

"Because that's her name." Sayuri said.

"I thought it was Ranko." Ken said looking to Ranma for answers.

"I can explain." Ranma sighed. "You know who I really am Ken, I never lied to you."

"You lied to me…" Sayuri said a little hurt.

"I lied to everyone in Nerima, Sayuri." Ranma said, "It's a long story and what we talked about earlier tonight is a big part of it. I'll explain tomorrow, I promise."

"Are you in any trouble?" Ken asked cracking his knuckles. "We can call off our flight."

"Don't, its nothing that I can't handle." Ranma said, "Just a minor nuisance."

"Are you sure?" Ken asked worriedly.

"I'm sure, if you miss your flight tomorrow I will personally kick your asses." Ranma said cracking her own knuckles as she got out of her cot.

"Okay, okay." Ken said making warding gestures with his hands as he backed away.

"Here." Ryu said giving Ranma a piece of paper, "This is both Ken and my cell numbers. If you need anything at all call us and we will be on the next flight here."

"Thanks guys." Ranma sniffed, rubbing her eyes as Ken hugged her.

Ranma trudged home late that night after hanging out with the others at the karaoke bar and stopping at Sayuri's long enough to change back into her regular clothes. Sayuri had tried to get her to tell her about why the guys was calling her Ranko and treating her strangely but she managed to get Sayuri to leave it alone for now with a promise to explain everything tomorrow. While that did give her time to think of how to explain it she was worried about the other girl's reaction to it. As much as Ranma felt betrayed by Akane's quick trip from wanting to be friends to being enemies this was a whole lot worse. She never meant to deceive Akane then but this was lies and a grand scale and she didn't want to lose what she felt was a growing friendship with Sayuri.

Everyone was asleep already when Ranma finally made it home so she decided not to wake Genma up since that often put him in a bad mood so she quietly made her way to the attic to her little hiding spot and collapsed on the blanket that was on the floor before noticing the two small packages with a card on one of them. Pulling off the card she opened it and read it.

"To Ranma, I found your little hiding spot today but no one else knows about it and I plan to keep it that way. It kind of looked like these were your favorites so I got these for you today. Love, your big sister Kasumi." The card read.

Carefully putting the card with a picture of the three magic knights Ranma opened the first package and gasped when she found the box sets for both seasons of Magic Knight Rayearth. Gently placing the DVDs down she opened the other package to find the entire manga series of Magic Knight Rayearth. Kasumi was right, it was her favorite and it brought tears to her eyes thinking about how this was her first gift real gift. She had never gotten a birthday present before or Christmas presents or any other presents for anything except from Ken all those years ago.

She couldn't remember her mother but according to Genma the woman was dead which made Ranma wander on more than one occasion if Genma had anything to do with her death but then again she couldn't bring herself to believe that even Genma was that cruel.

"Ranko, my little wild child." A loving, female voice echoed through Ranma's memories but as much as she tried she couldn't remember the face. It was one of the few memories that she could recall at all and it was all the proof that she had that she was loved by her mother even if she wasn't loved by her father.

AN: I'm not too sure I completely like how this chapter a whole lot, the meeting with Ken and Ranko could have gone much better in my opinion and I might add in a scene with all of them at the karaoke bar messing around a little. I might add to these scenes later, what does everyone think about it?

Until Next Time,

Ja Ne

Version 1.0 Thursday 8/17/2006

-Posted first draft.


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma ½

Starting Over Book 1: The Truth Behind the Lie

Chapter 3 (Version 1.0 Monday 8/21/2006)

Written by Senshi of Valis and 5hadow Lady (Formerly Ch33t4h Girl)

"Good morning, Kasumi." Ranma said as Kasumi came down the steps for the morning. Ranma had actually woken up an hour before Kasumi had and did the same cleaning that she did the previous day as she tried to thing about how to repay Kasumi for her gifts.

"Good morning, Ranma." Kasumi said smiling, "What are you doing up so early?"

"I woke up early so went ahead and cleaned up down here." Ranma said before yawning causing her to blush a little. She was still a little tired but she couldn't afford to sleep in this morning any longer. She had to go to Sayuri's house soon since she promised to meet there for breakfast which was going to be a little tricky. She knew Akane was going to throw a fit over how late the redhead had stayed out and leaving this early was going to be a lot trickier and cause even more problems but if she didn't go the consequences threatened to be even worse.

"You didn't have to do this Ranma." Kasumi said, smiling even more.

"I wanted to Kasumi, and thank you so much for your presents." Ranma said as Kasumi hugged her which she nervously returned.

"Your very welcome, Ranma." Kasumi said, "And don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks Kasumi." Ranma said as they spilt apart, "Was Akane mad that I got home late?"

"Akane spent the night at Yuka's so she doesn't know. She should be home this evening." Kasumi said.

"Great because I have to go out for awhile." Ranma said relieved that one disaster was averted.

"Where are you going?" Kasumi asked.

"I promised a friend I would spend the day with them." Ranma said, "Please if anyone asks though tell them I wanted to get away for awhile and do some training or something."

"Okay Ranma, you are staying for breakfast aren't you?" Kasumi asked.

"Sorry Kasumi, I need to get going now." Ranma said.

"Just be careful Ranma." Kasumi said as Ranma left the Tendo's and roof hopped across the early morning city towards Sayuri's. Luckily there were several lights on in the large building so she didn't arrive too early that she would be waking up everyone inside. Dropping down in front of the door she pressed the doorbell and waited patiently for someone to answer.

"Good morning, Ranma." Sayuri said dressed like Mimi from Digimon, a worried expression on her face. "I'm really sorry Ranma but my mom knows who you are and wants some answers about last night to. I didn't tell her anything but if you don't talk to her too she might go to your dad."

"Maybe I should lie." Ranma sighed.

"Maybe you should tell the truth young lady..man…or whoever you are." Sayuri's mom said coming up from behind Sayuri. "And why wouldn't you want your dad to know about this?"

"It's a long story…" Ranma sighed looking toward the ground.

"Call me Misato, all of Sayuri's friends do but I want a full explanation over breakfast which will be finished soon. Hope you like American food because that is what Maria made this morning but I asked her to make a lot more than usual." Misato said leading Ranma in with Sayuri walking next to her, "Let's get to the dinning room before the food gets cold."

Ranma followed into the dinning room but wasn't too sure what she was going to find but a small table big enough for four, maybe six people wasn't it. On the table was serving platters with French toast, pancakes, scrambled eggs, biscuits, sausage links, syrup, butter and honey with three place settings.

"Have a seat." Sayuri said as Misato and Sayuri sat across from each other and Ranma took the last seat at the end of the table between the other two. Seeing Sayuri and Misato bow there heads Ranma did the same as Misato said a prayer in thanks of the food and all the good people in their lives.

"Help yourself." Misato said after wards not moving to take anything as Sayuri and Ranma did. Ranma filled her plate with several pancakes, a few pieces of French toast and some of the eggs. She couldn't bring herself to touch the sausage though as it reminded her too much of Ryouga. "And how about that explanation while we eat, like are you a boy cursed to turn into a girl or are you a girl cursed to turn into a boy?"

"You have to promise not to tell anyone else about this." Ranma said pouring herself a glass of orange juice from the pitcher Sayuri handed her before sitting it back down.

"I'm sorry Ranma, but I can't do that until I know what is going on." Misato said, staring at Ranko making her nervous at the intense inspection. "But I have a feeling that you are much more than you seem. I talked to Ken last night before you two came and he talked so much about the little girl he adored who was so excited to learn from him. And yet you were only supposed to be cursed what, a year ago at most?"

"What?" Sayuri asked in shock staring at Ranma.

"You see Ranma, I know much more than you may think." Misato said making the color drain from Ranma's face.

"I'm so sorry, Sayuri." Ranma sighed putting her fork down and staring at her food.

"But what about your dad, is he really a panda or something?" Sayuri asked.

"No, the other cursed victims here are what they seem because they were cursed as the training grounds." Ranma said, "I was cursed at the hot springs which is the opposite."

"Then why do you pretend to be a guy?" Misato asked curiously though there was no anger in her face and a glance at Sayuri only showed confusion.

"If you tell anyone this…I can get in a lot of trouble with my dad." Ranma said.

"Ranko, why are you afraid of your dad finding out about this?" Misato asks, "Does he hurt you?"

"You told." Ranma said glaring at Sayuri.

"You knew about this?" Misato asked looking at Sayuri demanding to know the answer.

"She didn't tell you?" Ranma asked looking back at Misato.

"Ranma, I made you a promise and my promises are important to me." Sayuri said.

"How long did you know?" Misato asked.

"You might as well tell her, Sayuri." Ranma sighed as she slumped in the chair.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I found out yesterday but I promised Ranma that I wouldn't tell anyone." Sayuri said, "Please don't be angry."

"Honey, I'm proud that you kept your promise but under these circumstances you should never keep quiet." Misato said, "I'm calling the police."

"Wait…Please." Ranma said, "My dad is too dangerous for the police but he won't do anything as long as we are staying at the Tendo's. I just need a little more time, Cologne is helping me with it."

"The old woman who owns that Chinese restaurant?" Misato asked.

"Yes, she is an elder of an Amazon village in China and she is helping me with this but if Genma finds out now…I just need a little more time." Ranma begged.

"I will make you a deal, Ranko." Misato said, "You can come here any time and I would like to see more of you but if I find out that he hurts you in any way I will be calling the police. If you don't come here and check in with me I will also call the police but as long as he doesn't do anything I will let it go for now."

"Thank you." Ranma said.

"Ranma, why exactly do you have to pretend to be a boy? If Akane knew the truth then maybe she wouldn't act the way she does toward you." Sayuri said.

"Honey, the way Akane acts isn't right to anyone like I said before." Misato said.

"My dad believes women are weak and worthless, they don't deserve to practice the art so he raised me to act like a man. He knew of the curses and had it planned all along." Ranma said, "I don't know if Soun knows the truth or not but they made that stupid marriage arrangement a long time ago."

"I see." Misato sighed, "Well, I won't say anything to anyone for the time being as long as you keep your part of the deal."

"Thank you." Ranma sighed with relief.

"Sayuri, did you get that Hikaru costume you wanted for Ranko?" Misato asked.

"Is that your real name?" Sayuri asked. "Sorry, mom, thank you I got it."

"Yeah…Ranma is the name I had to go by ever since I was little but I never forgot that my real name is Ranko." Ranko sighed.

"Let's finish our breakfast before it gets any colder." Misato said getting a couple pancakes for herself.

"So you are really a girl?" Sayuri asked again after they finished breakfast and headed to her room to get changed for the convention. Ranma was sitting on the edge of her bed dressed just like Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayerth which was something she always wanted to do.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I lied to you." Ranma said sadly as Sayuri playing with what looked like a real digivice.

"You didn't have a choice but what should I call you now?" Sayuri asked a little confusion in her voice.

"In public you have to call me Ranma but when we are alone I would like to be called Ranko…it's my real name and it feels so good to have someone finally know the truth." Ranko said admiring the jewel in her glove. "That is if you ever want to hang out with me ever again."

"Even before I knew you were a girl I wanted to be your friend Ranma…Ranko." Sayuri said, "And just because I find out that you are really a girl doesn't mean that that is going to stop."

"Thanks Sayuri." Ranko said looking up smiling at Sayuri, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"Hey, don't cry you'll ruin the makeup." Sayuri said.

"Thanks Sayuri." Ranko said.

"I'll be right back, Ranko." Sayuri said leaving the room and leaving Ranko alone with her thoughts. She couldn't believe that Sayuri and her mother both accepted Ranko for who she was but would they still accept her if the found out everything? If she told them though she had no delusions of them sicking the police on Genma but would they even really give a damn about her after finding out? She wanted to believe that they would but she still couldn't tell them because she didn't want Genma to kill anyone else.

"Okay, I'm ready." Sayuri said coming back into the room though Ranko didn't recognize her at first with the blue long haired wig and dressed like Umi from the Magic Knights. "I thought it would be kind of cool if we went with matching costumes."

"You look great." Ranko said as Sayuri took her hand and pulled her off the bed.

"Thanks." Sayuri beamed as she led Ranko downstairs just as Misato was finishing loading a van with several boxes with the help of a few guys.

"You girls ready?" Misato asked, "I'll give you a lift."

"Sure." Sayuri said.

"You know if you two want you can model your outfits for awhile this morning." Misato said, "I have another girl that will be there modeling a Fuu costume and I'll pay you both the same amount I'm paying her."

"Really?" Sayuri asked excitedly.

"I don't know." Ranko said a little nervously. The biggest reason she wanted to go the convention to begin with was to see Ken and he already left. The reason she was going today was to try and have a little fun hanging out with her new friend.

"Please, it will be fun." Sayuri said giving her best puppy dog eyes.

"I guess so, I guess it could be fun." Ranko said earning a glomp from the excited Umi look alike. She was hoping that she wasn't going to see anyone she knew because a second day of going was actually pushing her luck but she wanted to make her new friend happy.

"Ranko dear, if at anytime you feel uncomfortable doing this you can stop." Misato said smiling a little at Ranko.

"Thank you, Misato." Ranko said.

"You know Ranko, I think I changed my mind about you calling me Misato." Misato said smiling a little as the two teens separated.

"Y-You did?" Ranko asked worried that she may have somehow angered her.

"Yes dear, how about calling me Auntie instead?" Misato asked.

"Really?" Ranko asked excitedly.

"Of course sweetie." Misato said just before Ranko glomped the older woman.

"Thank you so much." Ranko said happily.

"You are a part of this family now Ranko so if you ever need anything feel free to ask. My door will always be open to you." Misato said pushing Ranko away gently while holding her shoulders and looking into the young redhead's eyes. "It doesn't matter what it is or when it is."

"Thanks Auntie." Ranko said.

"You are welcome dear." Misato said kissing Ranko's cheek, "Now come on you two we have to get going or we will be late."

The three piled into the van and Misato started it up while Ranko and Sayuri both sat on the two seats right behind the front seats.

"Buckle up girls." Misato said.

"It feels so strange." Ranko whispered as she buckled her safety belt.

"What does?" Misato asked looking in the rearview mirror at Ranko.

"To be treated like this after so long…Like a real girl…" Ranko said hugging herself. "It feels so good to be able to not hide who I am and for people to accept me for who I am."

"I wish I talked to you sooner Ranko, I'm so sorry for letting Akane influence me so much over you." Sayuri said, her voice carrying how much she was beating herself up over it as the regret and sadness was unmistakable.

"Sayuri…Please…It isn't your fault, it's my father's." Ranko said leaning over to take Sayuri's hand and squeeze it. "Thank you so much for the last two days, for giving me the happiest time in my life for so long."

"Well, there will be lots more times if I have anything to say about it." Sayuri said with a smile.

"If both of us have anything to say about it, Sayuri." Misato said, "Remember what I said Ranko, you are a part of this family."

"Thanks Auntie, Sayuri." Ranko replied.

"You are very welcome dear." Misato said, "Are you girls ready?"

"Yeah mom." Sayuri said as Ranko let go of her hand.

"Yes Auntie." Ranko said as Misato put the vehicle in gear and slowly pulled out of the drive and onto the street, the gates closing behind them.

"Auntie…You make all of these costumes?" Ranko asked.

"A lot of them dear though Sayuri helps out a lot." Misato said, "My family owns several major hobby and toy stores in Japan that sales anything from toys and models to some of the highest quality costumes for cosplaying. It isn't our biggest ventures but it is one of my sister and my favorites."

"Wow." Ranko said surprised. It sounded a lot bigger than Ranko first thought but then again to have a home like Sayuri's one had to have been making a good deal of money.

"Mom is the best costume designer in Japan." Sayuri said.

"I'm not really the best, dear. You know your aunts are just as good if not better." Misato said.

"It sounds like you have a large family." Ranko said wistfully.

"We do but I admit some of it is messed up." Misato said, frowning a little. "I know you met my nephew and niece. While I do love them I can't stand them, they refuse any help anyone tries to give them as they kind of started growing mad after their mother, one of my sisters, passed away. My brother is working on restoring the family name but after all the crap Kodachi and Tatewaki has done and that insane Hawaiian wannabe it is proving to be a difficult task. I'm glad that all our companies are in my husband's name otherwise they would probably go bankrupt."

"Kuno…You have got to be joking." Ranko said shocked, "You are related to those psychos?"

"Sadly." Sayuri said, "But we aren't like them Ranko so please don't worry."

"I'm not Sayuri, I'm just a little surprised." Ranko said.

"We're here girls." Misato said pulling into the vendor's spaces and parking the van. "Could you girl's help unload some of this stuff?"

"Sure." Ranko said getting out of the van following Sayuri and Misato to the back. Misato opened the back of the van and pointed to some smaller boxes.

"These aren't really too heavy." Misato said, "That box though is and we will probably have to get a couple of the guys to help unload it."

"I'll get it." Ranko said pulling the large box out and lifting it easily, "There isn't any use bothering someone else Auntie."

"Wow." Misato said in awe, "You really are strong."

"Years of training it the art." Ranko said as Misato moved to help her.

"Its okay Auntie, this is nothing." Ranko said.

"Are you sure?" Misato asked a little worried.

"I'm sure." Ranko said.

"Okay." Misato said as she grabbed the last couple of boxes and shut the door. "Let's get inside then."

The three walked toward the side entrance when a girl with blonde hair came out dressed like Fuu as Misato had said there would be.

"Great, you're here, we was starting to get a little worried." The Fuu look alike said.

"Sorry, my daughter and niece decided that they would like to join you today showing off our Rayearth costumes." Misato said letting the blonde take one of the boxes she was carrying.

"Oh wow, they look great." Fuu said.

"Thanks." Sayuri and Ranko said at the same time though Ranko was a little nervous and confused. Why did Misato refer to Ranko as her niece?

The four of them walked into the building making their way through the small early morning crowd of people setting up for the day. The convention wasn't yet open to the public yet for the day as everyone was setting up and getting ready for business. They quickly arrived at their booth where there were even more people from yesterday.

There were two guys there, one dressed as Cloud Strife and the other as Sephiroth, both characters from Final Fantasy seven. The girls while the same as the previous day also had a few new additions to their group. A few of them making Ranko look in shock, the clothes that they were wearing did little to hide assets that rivaled Ranko's if not outright making hers look small. There was Tiffa from Final Fantasy seven, Ayame from Dead or Alive, Nuku Nuku from Nuku Nuku, Kei from the Dirty Pair, Felicia from Vampire Savior, Lum from Lum and finally Fuu from Magic Knight Rayearth.

Ranko was shocked at the way some of them was dressed, it was something that she couldn't ever fathom wearing herself. Every movement by the most scantily clad girls threatened to spill their large breasts out for everyone to see. The two guys kept ogling the girls which sickened Ranko and yet memories of how her male body would be reacting made it even worse.

"Ranko…Hey Ranko." Sayuri said shaking Ranko out of her thoughts.

"Sorry." Ranko said a little uneasily, a part of her wanting to curl up and cry. She hated feeling this way and it disgusted her knowing exactly what was making the guy's bodies react in the way they did. The curses usually added a kind of instincts that made the curse forms feel natural so that the victims wouldn't go crazy but with everything that happened to her and the constant changes including hormones made her hate herself all the more.

"Let's check out some of the manga mom brought." Sayuri suggested, obviously trying to get Ranko's mind off what ever was bothering her.

"Sure." Ranko said trying to shove the dark thoughts out of her head. The only thing they ever did was hurt and confuse her and she didn't want that. She was here to have fun and she intended to.

She followed Sayuri over to a self set up in Misato's area that was already lined with many DVDs and games. Misato was just opening the box Ranko carried in to reveal it stuffed full of manga which Sayuri started to help put on the shelf.

"How did that get in there?" Misato asked pulling out a strange book. Ranko's attention was drawn to it as she swore she felt a strange power coming from it but that was impossible, it was just a book wasn't it?

"What is it?" Ranko asked softly.

"I'm not sure, I can't get the lock to open on it since I got it." Misato said handing it to Ranko whose eyes were now glues to the cover. It was a red book with a latch on it with a sun design on it chained around what looked like a winged wild cat or something with the words, "The Clow." Written across the top. "I bought a whole case of used books for one of my shops and that was one of them."

"You like it, Ranko?" Sayuri asked as Ranko nodded.

"You can have it if you want sweetie. I never got it open because I didn't want to damage the book but maybe you will have better luck." Misato said.

"Thank you Auntie." Ranko said, finally breaking her eyes free from the book and looking up at the elder woman happily.

"Come on Ranko, they are opening the doors." Sayuri said pulling Ranko with her to join Fuu.

The next couple of hours went by quickly and while she was extremely nervous at first Ranko quickly loosened up and started having fun, joking and laughing with Sayuri and Fuu as people came by wanting to get pictures taken with them or of them which Ranko relented to after seeing how much fun Sayuri was having doing it and she learned that she did too when she started. It was great meeting all of these new people and seeing the happy looks on their faces.

"I'm sorry honey, but I don't have enough money for that after paying to get in." A woman said to a little girl who was looking longingly at a DVD at the next booth. "They only gave me enough to get in so we can write the story and take a few pics for it. Maybe we can find another one when I get paid."

Ranko felt sorry for the little girl as she finally moved off with the woman who Ranko believed was the girl's mom to the next booth writing down notes as she talked to who she thought was a manga artist. Ranko went to the booth with the DVD the girl wanted and picked it up to look at. It was actually kind of expensive, the price obviously inflated for some reason or another but Ranko pulled out the money she had left that Cologne gave her and gave the money to the man who seemed to have a hateful attitude. If it wasn't for the little girl Ranko would have told the man to shove the DVD somewhere not so nice.

Taking the DVD she followed the woman and little girl and smiled at them when they looked up at her.

"Can we help you?" The woman asked a little nervously.

"Well you see…There was this contest for…The cutest kid and well you see your daughter won this." Ranko said handing the little girl the DVD then giving the woman what little money she had left. It wasn't much but it should cover lunch for both the woman and girl

"We…I can't take this." The woman said sadly though her eyes looked hungrily at the money.

"Yes you can." Ranko said, "Like I said you won a contest."

"Thank you." The woman said pulling her camera out. "May I please take a picture of you?"

"Sure, I guess." Ranko said a little nervously.

"Thank you, can I please get my daughter in the shot to?" The woman asked.

"Sure." Ranko said as she knelt down next to the girl wrapping an arm around her as the woman took their picture.

"My name is Yuriko Himura." The woman said offering her hand.

"Ranko Saotome." Ranko said getting up and taking the woman's hand.

"We have to be going but I hope to see you again sometime." Yuriko said as she took the little girl's hand and walked away.

"That was very nice." Sayuri said from behind Ranko startling the redhead.

"Don't do that." Ranko gasped clutching her chest while trying to catch her breath from that scare.

"Sorry." Sayuri said giggling, "Still that was a very nice thing to do."

"I kind of…Do that a lot." Ranko said smiling as she looked to where the now happy girl was with her mother taking more pictures. "I like to help people anyway I can."

"That's great, Ranko." Sayuri said.

"It is." Misato said from behind the two girls startling them. She handed them each some money which Ranko hesitantly took. "Thank you both for your help this morning, thanks to you my Rayearth costumes was my best sellers. Go have some fun now, I'll meet you tonight Sayuri and Ranko don't forget to come by often."

"Thanks mom." Sayuri said.

"I will, Auntie, thank you." Ranko said as Misato hugged them both then went back to her booth with Ranko watching wistfully. "Your mother is really nice. I wish my mom was still alive…"

"What happened to her, Ranko?" Sayuri asked softly.

"She died when I was really little, I can't even remember what she looked like anymore. I wish I had a picture or something of her but…My dad destroyed any pictures that we must have had because I looked through his pack once and there wasn't any pictures…At least not any I would want to talk about." Ranko said.

"I'm sorry, Ranko." Sayuri said hugging Ranko.

"Sayuri…I don't know if…If this is going to work out." Ranko said sadly pulling away from Sayuri. "I…I don't deserve you as a friend…I really don't deserve anybody."

"What are you talking about, of course you do." Sayuri said.

"You forgot this." Misato said interrupting the two girls' hushed conversation and handed Ranko the book she had earlier.

"Thanks Auntie." Ranko said taking the book carefully and hugging it to her chest.

"Is something wrong dear?" Misato asked a little worried.

"No Auntie, I'm okay." Ranko said smiling up at the woman, "We're just going to look around a little."

"Okay honey but remember that I'm always here for you." Misato said kissing Ranko's cheek.

"I will, thank you Auntie." Ranko said grabbing Sayuri's hand and dragging the girl into the crowds of people milling around the large convention. Lights and music along with loud people talking with one another distracting Ranko as well as her thoughts drowning out Sayuri's warnings until she bumped right into Yuka.

"Hey, watch where you are going." Akane demanded angrily seeing what happened.

"Sorry Akane." Sayuri said as Ranko turned away from them ready to run when she saw a display of sunglasses right next to her. She grabbed a pair and ripped the tag off them and put them on. The man was about to get up when she pulled out more than enough money and tossed it and the tag at him.

"Ranma?" Akane asked in surprise.

"That's not Ranma, Akane." Yuka said, "Her hair is way too long and since when would Ranma wear a dress willingly outside of messing with Ryouga or fighting Happosai and I haven't seen any destruction."

"Hey…Your that girl who beat that street fighter yesterday, aren't you?" The man with the sunglasses asked shoving a notepad and pen at her. "Ranko, right? Could I please have your autograph?"

"Ranko? Your Sayuri's cousin? I thought she was supposed to have died a long time ago." Akane asked in shock.

"We…We found out recently that she was alive, Akane but she's really shy and doesn't like talking to new people." Sayuri said, "She's had a rough childhood."

"I'm so sorry." Akane said sadly.

"Its okay, Akane, it wasn't your fault." Sayuri said but Ranko could detect some anger in her words as she thought about the cousin comment. "We have to get going though, Akane, we have to go do a few things."

"We can come with you." Yuka suggested.

"How about that autograph?" The man asked again prompting her to take the notebook and pen and sign it before the man drew even more attention to her.

"I'm sorry but I need to spend some time alone with my cousin today, I'll see you two later." Sayuri said grabbing Ranko's hand nervously after the redhead returned the notebook and dragged her through the crown away from Akane and Yuka and out the front door.

"Sayuri?" Ranko asked a little nervously after they were a few blocks away from the convention center, "What was Akane talking about Ranko dieing a long time ago?"

"Let's…Lets go to the park and find somewhere we can talk alone." Sayuri said, sadness permeating her voice as she started to the park with Ranko following. It didn't take long for the two of them to reach the nearby park where there weren't too many people hanging around. Sayuri led Ranko into the trees and found a perfect shaded place to rest and talk. The two of them sat down under a large tree and Sayuri sighed heavily.

"Ranko…I didn't want to tell you and it was hard getting my mom agree to not mention it after she found out last night because…She thinks that…She thought at first that you were our Ranko." Sayuri said rubbing her eyes a little. "Ranko…I didn't want you to think that we were only nice to you because of that. I wanted to be your friend before I found out your real name and I want you to be my friend now. I…I just didn't want you to think that we were just trying to replace her with you and…I'm sorry Ranko."

"It's okay." Ranko said smiling a little, "I understand but…If you don't mind my asking…What happened to your Ranko?"

"My aunt…She was attacked and left for dead not long after having Ranko. I don't know the whole story but she was kidnapped by her father Genryu Saishi but he was a wanted criminal and he ended up killing both him and Ranko when he refused to turn himself in when trapped in a bad fire." Sayuri explained crying a little.

"I'm so sorry." Ranko said hugging Sayuri tightly.

"Its okay, Ranko." Sayuri said finally pulling away after crying for a few minutes and rubbed her eyes. "Hey, let's look at that book you got."

"I guess." Ranko said pulling out her new book and handed it to Sayuri.

"It's really neat looking." Sayuri said trying to get the clasp to release having no luck at it. "I can't get it to open."

"I'll try." Ranko said taking the book and looking at the clasp. As soon as her finger touched it she felt a jolt of electricity travel up her finger and up her arm. The clasp let loose and she gently opened the cover and stared at a deck of large cards lying inside the pages where a space for them was cut out of the pages. Picking the top one up she looked at it entranced. She opened her mouth slowly as she started to read the words on the card out loud. "Windy…"

A circle of light appeared under Ranko as intricate designs appeared in it just before a strong wind formed around it whipping around the immediate area violently making her cross her arms in front of her eyes to protect them from the dirt that was flying as Sayuri did the same thing.

"What's happening?" Sayuri screamed over the loud howl of the wind just before it died down with the circle of light disappearing.

'Wh-what was that?" Ranko asked in shock looking back at the book finding it empty now, all the cards now gone except for the one card in her hand.

"I-I don't know?" Sayuri said nervously.

"What's going on?" A tired voice said, yawning from the book. Ranko dropped the book quickly in shock backing away from it and in front of Sayuri in case something attacked them.

"That hurt you know…" The voice said again as the book started glowing as what looked like a stuffed animal with wings rose out of the cover. "Oh no, the seal…Where's the cards."

"They sort of…Blew away." Ranko said lamely letting her guard down a little.

"THEY WHAT?" the thing screeched, "We have to get them back before someone gets hurt. How did they get loose anyways?"

"Well…You see…I kind of opened the book and read what the top card said. It said…" Ranko said.

"Don't say it!" the thing snapped. "Since you released them it is your responsibility to recapture them. You are the new cardcaptor."

"Sorry, but I can't." Ranko said, "There is way too much involved."

"You have to, no one else can do it. If you don't a lot of innocent people could get hurt." The thing continued crossing its arms. "You don't have a choice."

"I don't have a choice…" Ranko whispered, tears starting to fall. "I guess trash like me doesn't deserve to make choices…"

"Ranko, what's wrong?" Sayuri asked in concern moving to console the redhead.

"Don't touch me." Ranko sobbed, shaking her head. "Please…Don't touch me…"

"Ranko…I'm not going to hurt you." Sayuri said gently reaching out towards Ranko who kept backing away until she bumped into the tree. Sayuri carefully wrapped her arms around Ranko and held her as she cried, clutching Sayuri's blouse.

"I…I didn't mean it like that." The creature said flying up toward Ranko and Sayuri, "You do have a choice Ranko…I'm sorry…Its just that if you don't…The cards may go out of control and kill a lot of people without really meaning to. Someone needs to protect them and that someone has to be who opened the book. Only someone who could have opened it has the magic potential to control them."

"Will you please stop." Sayuri growled angrily as Ranko began to quiet down a little.

"To protect them…I can't even protect myself…What makes you think I can do anything to help anyone else." Ranko sniffled.

"Because, as guardian beast of the seal I can sense how good a candidate might be and besides Clow Reed you are the best that I have ever seen." The thing said.

"I'm worthless though…" Ranko said pulling away from Sayuri to look at the creature.

"No you are not, whoever told you that are full of it kid. I can see the potential in you to become just as good a sorcerer as Clow Reed himself if not better." The thing said.

"Do you really believe that?" Ranko asked hopefully.

"Of course I do kid." The creature said, "Please, help get the cards back before something bad happens."

"I guess I have to…It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak." Ranko said.

"Are you sure, Ranko?" Sayuri asked with concern.

"Yeah…I guess I don't really have much of a choice." Ranko sighed, "If I don't do it people could die and…I've seen enough people die already that was my fault."

"Okay." The thing said pulling the book between Ranko and itself. "First off my name is Keroberos but in this fork you can just call me Kero. This here is the Clow Book, it was supposed to keep the cards powers sealed."

"Wait, you said you were guardian beast of the seal, right?" Sayuri asked, "Then why didn't you keep it from opening?"

"Well…You see…I've been in there for a long time and I was getting really tired so…I kind of took a nap." Kero said scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Great, all this because you were slacking off." Sayuri said a little angrily.

"Hey, it's not like that." Kero snapped.

"Please don't argue." Ranko sighed, "Kero, what do I have to do?"

"First you have to make a contract with the book and get the Key of Clow." Kero explained, "Just follow my lead."

"Okay…" Ranko said unsure of what to expect.

"Oh Book of Clow, this girl Ranko wishes to contract with you to gain the Key to capture the cards." Kero said then waved at Ranko.

"Please, oh Book of Clow, grant me your powers to protect people." Ranko said as the circle of light appeared again, a gentle breeze tracing its perimeter before closing in tighter causing Ranko's clothes and hair to flutter around. Ranko instinctly reached her hand out as a little bird headed key appeared above it spinning around. Ranko closed her hands around it as it elongated in a pinkish bird headed staff. The wind died down as the circle of light faded away.

"Great job, Ranko." Kero said happily while the redhead looked at the staff in awe.

"It's beautiful…And I can feel the power coursing through it…Through me." Ranko whispered without taking her gaze off the staff.

"Oh well, Ranko." Sayuri said in surprise, "I guess this makes you a magical girl."

"No…I can't…If he finds out…" Ranko said shaking her head furiously.

"Relax Ranko, I'll help you. I'll supply the costumes and even tape it for prosperity." Sayuri said a little excited, "I'll be your sidekick, it'll be fun Ranko."

"I don't know…" Ranko said worriedly as she stared at Sayuri unsure what to think. Sayuri had tried to comfort her and was now volunteering to put her life at risk helping catch these so called cards and wasn't even demanding anything in exchange. She wasn't trying to marry or kill her and was only asking to be friends. She wasn't sure at first but Ranko was beginning to realize that it was real, Sayuri wanted to be her friend. Ranko smiled at the girl happy to finally have one who had no ulterior motives, someone who treated her as if she was truly worth something. A large part of herself still believed that she was everything that her father had beat into her head for so long but Sayuri was giving her a reason to start having a little doubt in her father's words.

"I won't let you do this by yourself, Ranko." Sayuri said hugging the redhead, "Friends help each other and we are friends, right."

"Y…Yeah, thanks Sayuri." Ranko said smiling.

AN: Thanks for all the reviews and support to everyone who has read this so far. I'm very glad so many of you seem to be enjoying this story so far. I have half of the next chapter already finished so far plus the karoke scene mostly written for the last chapter to add to it. Please read and review, leave any suggestions or ideas and please constructive criticism.

This chapter had some of the changes that will affect book two such as changing where Ranko got the Clow Cards at as well as a few others. Hopefully it will make the story a lot better though.

Until Next Time,

Ja Ne


End file.
